Apple continues to add to its team of medical and biosensor experts, with the hiring of Marcelo Lamego, the former chief technology officer of non-invasive patient monitoring company Cercacor. Lamego's recent change in employment was spotted by Network World.

Before joining Apple in January, Lamego spent the previous eight years as the CTO of Cercacor working on sensor-based medical technologies like those used in the Pronto-7, a portable, non-invasive device which measures hemoglobin, oxygen saturation, pulse rate and more. The Pronto-7 is sold by pulse oximetry company Masimo, from which Cercacor was spun off in the late 1990s.

Lamego worked on the Rainbow SET Technology platform used in the Pronto-7 during his time as a research scientist at Masimo, continuing that work after moving to Cercacor. Rainbow SET is described by Masimo as "a noninvasive monitoring platform enabling the assessment of multiple blood constituents and physiologic parameters that previously required invasive or complicated procedures."

(Credit:Masimo)

It is not clear what position Lamego holds at Apple, but he is one of many recent biomedical and sensor research scientists who are now employed by Apple. These new hires allegedly were recruited to join Apple's iWatch team, which according to MobiHealthnews, has grown to include 200 employees. Lamego isn't the first Apple hire to come from Masimo either. Last year, Apple also added Michael O'Reilly, M.D., former Chief Medical Officer and EVP of Medical Affairs at Masimo, to its ranks.

Network World's report also highlights several other health-related experts who are either confirmed or speculated to be working for Apple, including biosensor algorithm architect Nima Ferdosi from Vital Connect. Ferdosi's hiring late last year came around the same time that Apple hired Ravi Narasimhan from the same company. A third Vital Connect employee, biomedical engineer Alexander Chan, is alsp speculated to have joined Apple, although his LinkedIn profile lists his employer only as "technology company" in the Bay Area.

Several other health-related companies were reported to have lost employees to Apple last year, including AccuVein and C8 Medisensors. Network World has identified AccuVein engineer Yuming Liu as one of those employees and speculates that C8's Stephen Waydo may be another.

Details on the iWatch are still elusive, with contradicting reports on the features that'll make it into the launch version of the device. 9to5Macstands behind its original report that the iWatch will be able to sense hydration and glucose levels, while MobiHealthNewsclaims the device will drop these advanced functions and focus on basic health parameters like exercise, diet, stress and medication scheduling.

Seems like Apple is doing what it does best. Figure out what people wants and needs than provide it. Unlike other companies, look we are first, we have a watch that doesn't do much yet. But it will as soon as Apple shows us.

I hope iPhone air is a joke. If you think Apple will name it that, you are dead wrong. iPhone must retain it's current naming scheme, because you can't say 'iPhone Air 2' it's too long and doesn't make sense. iPhone cannot lose it's numbering either, it is the one device which has to retain numbering because people will be confused as to which device is the new one.

Knowing that he is Brazilian I would say that his family name (Lamego) comes from the Portuguese city of Lamego, which, according to Wikipedia (as it is common in Portuguese cities names) comes from Lamaecus, a Roman-Hispanic derivative that indicates the possessor of agrarian titles in the 3rd century around the local castle.

I'm very interesting in all this technology and hoping to see at least some of it materialise in iOS8 - the only trouble is, like many others I guess, I already have a watch that I'm very happy with and wouldn't take to wearing an Apple one instead - I'm hoping that Apple will also provide a means of using these tools for people who don't want to commit to wearing an iWatch.

Even if it the technology isn't used in the rumored iWatch, we will likely see some bits of it being added to the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPod Nano (see also: Nike+, BT heart rate monitors). Even if not for direct features, there could be some standardized APIs and developer hooks made specifically for health-related App and device makers (what those would look like exactly, I can't say).

I really hope the iWatch isn't another fitness track...or at least...isn't ONLY a fitness tracker. I'm hoping for something similar to the Samsung Gear or the Pebble.

I'd be willing to bet a lot that you'll be "disappointed" if you expect the iWatchU to be similar to the Samsung Gear!

It looks like it's going to be in the vein of a health monitoring device, but to a much deeper level and previous devices. It might be "only" a fitness tracker, but not like any one you've seen before.

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I hope iPhone air is a joke. If you think Apple will name it that, you are dead wrong. iPhone must retain it's current naming scheme, because you can't say 'iPhone Air 2' it's too long and doesn't make sense. iPhone cannot lose it's numbering either, it is the one device which has to retain numbering because people will be confused as to which device is the new one.